Patriot Post Vol. 07 No. 13 | 30 March 2007
NATIONAL SECURITY
President and Democrats headed for showdown
The House and Senate both passed defense-spending bills in the past week—the House with a strict deadline for withdrawal of American forces from Iraq by 31 August 2008 and the Senate with a “goal” of March 2008. President Bush has promised to veto any spending bill that contains such deadlines, and now he will get his chance. In the House, 14 Democrats defected to vote against the measure with all but two Republicans. Speaker San Fran Nan Pelosi called the vote a “victory,” which perversely means “defeat for America.” Significantly, she had to boost the $100-billion spending package with $24 billion in domestic pork to buy votes from her corruptible and cowardly colleagues. Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) defended his district’s receipt of $25 million for growing spinach: “Supporting our spinach producers is not just important for our local economy, it’s important for our national health.” Certainly no more important to our “national health” than $3.5 million for tours of the Capitol.
In the Senate, “Republicans” Chuck Hagel and Gordon Smith provided the votes Democrats needed to pass their retreat bill, 51-47. Neither chamber has the votes necessary to override the President’s veto, but liberals are downright giddy with what they have accomplished. Democrats can now claim that they support the troops because they are passing a much-needed funding package; however, they are also appeasing their anti-war friends with a bill that calls for withdrawal of troops (read: surrender) by a date certain. This represents a new level of congressional meddling in military decision-making that is constitutionally assigned to the Commander in Chief.
Of course, if the Democrats truly had a spine, they would have voted to cut troop funding completely, but courage is not among their “virtues.” They have signaled to America that they will try to be all things to all people, and they have signaled to the jihadi warriors that they are the party to root for in 2008 to ensure American surrender in the long war.
Oh, and did we mention Congress recesses for Easter today? Upon returning, the two houses will have to reconcile their bills, meaning nothing will get to the President for weeks. Not sitting idly by, President Bush, for the first time in his presidency, invited the entire House GOP caucus to the White House to ensure his ensuing veto is not overridden.
On cross-examination
“Here in Washington members of both parties recognize that our most solemn responsibility is to support our troops in the war on terror. Yet... a narrow majority in [Congress] abdicated its responsibility by passing a war spending bill that has no chance of becoming law and brings us no closer to getting our troops the resources they need to do their job. The purpose of the emergency war-spending bill I requested was to provide our troops with vital funding. Instead, Democrats in [Congress], in an act of political theater, voted to substitute their judgment for that of our military commanders on the ground in Iraq.” —President George W. Bush
This week’s ‘Braying Jenny’ award:
“Take a deep breath, Mr. President... Calm down with the [veto] threats. There is a new Congress in town. We respect your constitutional role. We want you to respect ours... This war without end has gone on far too long, and we are here to end it.” —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, trying to defend her deplorable actions on constitutional grounds
Progress in Iraq? Perish the thought.
The fact that life is improving for many Iraqis somehow doesn’t make it to the mainstream media’s coverage, so consider this under-reported gem from last week. Last Wednesday in Baghdad, Kurdish and Arab families gathered to celebrate the New Year holiday of Nowruz in Zawra Park, in the heart of the city. Picnic blankets were spread on the grass and boys and girls cavorted in a scene reminiscent of a spring day in parks across America. The Nowruz holiday, which is particularly popular among Kurds, is celebrated on the first day of spring and brought a brief return to normalcy in the city. If American troops are allowed to finish the job, there surely will be many more Nowruz celebrations to come.
The Iranian hostage crisis redux
As if Iran wasn’t already far enough inside the international doghouse, last Friday the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy set off an international incident a scant 24 hours before the United Nations Security Council was to vote on additional sanctions. The Iranians abducted 15 British sailors and marines conducting a boarding operation in the northern Persian Gulf. Following their standard M.O., the IRGCN encircled the two British motorboats, stuck their guns in the Brits’ faces and demanded that they follow the Iranians back to Bandar Mahshar, an IRGCN naval base not far from the Iraqi border.
The British sailors and marines, to their enormous credit, followed their Rules of Engagement and did not fire back, preventing a relatively low-level incident from spiraling into a shooting match between Iranian and Coalition forces. CENTCOM’s top concern in the region is preventing any event that Iran perceives as a U.S. attack. With two American aircraft carriers in the area, along with dozens of other Coalition ships, and more than 1,000 Iranian warships and IRGCN small boats in the vicinity, a firefight could have provided the spark to set off a full-blown war.
British officials have been demanding the immediate return of the hostages, while Iran has announced it may try the British troops for espionage. Iran has also compelled letters from the female sailor “admitting” that the Brits strayed into Iranian waters (which they didn’t). Dealing with the lunatics that run the Islamic Republic is no walk in the park, and we sincerely hope that this incident can be defused quickly and safely. It is one more reason in a long and growing list why the Iranian regime poses the single greatest danger to peace and security in the region, and why that regime must be dealt with before it gets its hands on a nuclear weapon.
Finally, while the UNSC was likely to impose new sanctions anyway, Iran did not help its own cause. The vote the next day was unanimous. While the sanctions themselves were fairly timid, merely blocking Iranian arms exports (to Hizballah, presumably) and freezing some assets, the promptness and unanimity of the new resolution was what the UNSC was aiming for. Whether Iran takes heed of the unanimous opposition it faces at the UNSC, or laughs off the latest resolution as it did UNSCR 1737 in December, remains to be seen.
The latest immigration bill
Yet another immigration bill surfaced in the House this week. Titled the Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy (STRIVE) Act, H.B. 1645 is 700 pages of giveaways to people breaking the law. Rather than first and foremost addressing the undiminished tide of illegal immigration, the bill instead forgivingly focuses on illegals already here, all while adding more bureaucracy and complexity to the system.
It includes several types of amnesty or semi-amnesty for illegal aliens who can prove they have been in the U.S. since 1 January 2006 and “takes into account the difficulties encountered by aliens in obtaining evidence of employment.” It also pumps more taxpayer money into immigration interest groups, grants illegal aliens in-state tuition at colleges and universities and funds more federal officers (though they are not likely to be used for border enforcement).
One aspect of the bill, its “touchback provision,” requires would-be amnesty-seekers to go home and then return to the U.S. legally before applying. Even the bill’s co-author, Rep. Gutierrez (D-IL) acknowledges the probable futility: “Is it going to sound somewhat absurd to some people? Certainly it will.” Illegal immigration immensely reduces respect for our system of laws, especially among our future citizens. For The Patriot’s stand on immigration policy, link to Mark Alexander’s essay, “Insanity on bordering.”